Women in Family-Controlled Business : From Invisibility to Successors

Abstract

Succession is the most frequently discussed topic in the family business succession context. Although no ideal recipe towards successful succession exists, most outcomes are based on family culture and the strategic objectives guiding the business. While the word succession is predictably linked to the son, it often happens, nowadays, that more and more businesses are passed-on from father to daughter. Although women were always playing important roles in family businesses, their role has often been undervalued and invisible in business decision- making process, limited to being supportive and rarely recognized or rewarded. This paper aims to explore, through semi structured interviews, how daughters were integrated as leaders of the Lebanese family firms and how their experiences and journey were carved within the family-controlled business (FCB).
Being in a traditionally conservative culture, this paper’s contribution to knowledge is important as the experience of daughters in the family-controlled business has always been under-investigated by academics and especially in the Arab World.
This study allowed us to highlight the success factors of the daughters taking up the leadership. Where in some situations, they were forced to take the lead due to some circumstances, in others, it was a personal choice.